What are the best and worst things about public transit in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia? How could it be improved?

Overall, reliable. Yes, when it falls over, it falls over horridly; but considering how much of the infrastructure is 150 years old, it is bearing the load remarkably well.

Reasonable coverage, given it’s 150 years old. So long as urban development followed the train tracks, which was the case until a decade ago.

Worst:

Overcrowding; if you’re in Zone 1, don’t even bother boarding a train between 7:30 and 9.

Chronic underinvestment. I for one welcome our new Chinese overlords; at least they understand infrastructure. (And they don’t have federalism as a mechanism for everyone to dodge the responsibility of infrastructure.)

If you’re in exurbia, particularly in the Western Suburbs, you’re shit out of luck: the train network is radial, not tangential. In fact, real estate agents in the Western Suburbs are reportedly told not to even bother showing clients a house, if it’s not 10 mins away from a train station.

The lack of a train connection to the airport is unfortunate, but not the worst thing possible.

Improvements?

More money. And none of this bullshit federal/state nonsense. Take Tony Abbott out with a projectile tram if he ever comes into power again.

More longterm thinking. I hope the new central tunnels are part of that.

More tangential connections. Good that money is being poured into more central connections, I guess, but exurbia is tumbleweeds, and radial connections only get you so much 50 km out.